At least, that's my take on it. Maybe it's just that I'm NOT wigging out, and that has me seeing other people's anxiety from a different perspective.
I'm working up a couple of things; a big brain dump, a long article about logic fallacies and common emotional reasoning fallacies (complete with a code index, so that we can rate incoming emails and news items more easily), some fundamentals about consumerism, and stuff like that there.
Also, I'm going to be adjusting my layout and such to coordinate with my other two websites with the intention of operating a triptych of websites - each with a complimentary theme:
Can I deduct that? (tax matters explained)
Can they do that? (issues with collection agencies)
Can you believe that? (there here little creation)
I'm excited about all of that!
It's getting late, and I'm pushing myself to NOT be a late bird surfing the interwebs, so I'll get back to work and you can watch this space for developments!
DJHJD
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Thursday, June 03, 2010
downwithtyranny Congressional candidate knowledge test
I was flabbergasted when I read all of this, I follow this guy like a Baytown 'skeeter. Send in your answers to downwithtyranny@gmail.com ASAP
Every answer is the name of someone running for Congress in 2010. Just send your answers to downwithtyranny@gmail.com, and if you're the first one to get 'em all right, you win the box of brand-new cool CDs (all genres). Are these CDs any good? Sure-- and if there are any you don't like... there's always eBay. Yes, that simple!
* This candidate's opponent is not just a congressman but also a real estate speculator who bought some worthless land, earmarked an $8 million dollar road to his new property and then sold it for a $450,000 profit a few months later.
* Now a multimillionaire, he knows more about auto theft than anyone in Congress since he has stolen so many autos himself.
* What candidate wrote a book about a famous rapper?
* His opponent, a Christmas-tree farmer, got into Congress and immediately offered a resolution to commend... yes, Christmas tree farmers.
* This roly-poly incumbent was arrested in his car with a drug-addicted prostitute giving him head.
* This unimportant congressional figure spent nearly one day in three on the links for all of 2009.
* This candidate is a direct linear descendant of a Prophet of God.
* Her opponent was disqualified from being the head of the Intelligence Committee because she was caught in an act of espionage for another nation; still not arrested, though.
* Her opponent was the chair of Lieberman for President, but she doesn't put that on her resume much.
* This 16-term congressman steered hundreds of millions of dollars in earmarks in exchange for contributions to his campaign committee and PAC but had the clout to get rid of two consecutive U.S. attorneys looking into the little matter.
* This guy was just denied a contest against an ex-congressman arrested while driving drunk to visit his second family in the Virginia suburbs. (Hint: there are no Mormons in this story.)
* He's the only member of the Republican House leadership who voted against Bush's no-strings-attached bailout for Wall Street banksters on both September 29 and October 3, 2008.
* Several Democrats can say they were Bush's "favorite Democrat," but only this one agreed to co-sponsor his bill to gut Social Security.
* Tuesday there's a bona fide progressive running against a conservative corporate shill in a closely contested runoff for an Arkansas House seat. Who's the conservative corporate shill?
* A staunch advocate of "Drill, Baby, Drill" and a protector of Wall Street banksters, this far right Republican managed to beat a blind rabbi in 2008 and will face an active member of the New York Guard this year.
* Another Palin-endorsed candidate flopped spectacularly Tuesday night. Who did Palin want her sadly underperforming candidate to run against in November?
* Which Democratic congressman in New York has drawn the most primary challengers?
* There are quite a few rock musicians in Congress, but this is the only one who was ever in a big band with a real smash hit (which he wrote).
* In 2008 this clown almost lost his election to a no-nonsense Democrat who is challenging him again. So this year fear got the better of him, and he just changed to another district.
* When it comes to key issues and tight votes, this guy has crossed the aisle to vote with the Republicans more frequently than any other Democrat.
So there you have it. Google is allowed. The first person to send all 20 correct answers wins the box of CDs. This contest is brought to you by Blue America, and if you want to donate to any of our candidates, here's the endorsement page. You don't have to donate in order to win.
Every answer is the name of someone running for Congress in 2010. Just send your answers to downwithtyranny@gmail.com, and if you're the first one to get 'em all right, you win the box of brand-new cool CDs (all genres). Are these CDs any good? Sure-- and if there are any you don't like... there's always eBay. Yes, that simple!
* This candidate's opponent is not just a congressman but also a real estate speculator who bought some worthless land, earmarked an $8 million dollar road to his new property and then sold it for a $450,000 profit a few months later.
* Now a multimillionaire, he knows more about auto theft than anyone in Congress since he has stolen so many autos himself.
* What candidate wrote a book about a famous rapper?
* His opponent, a Christmas-tree farmer, got into Congress and immediately offered a resolution to commend... yes, Christmas tree farmers.
* This roly-poly incumbent was arrested in his car with a drug-addicted prostitute giving him head.
* This unimportant congressional figure spent nearly one day in three on the links for all of 2009.
* This candidate is a direct linear descendant of a Prophet of God.
* Her opponent was disqualified from being the head of the Intelligence Committee because she was caught in an act of espionage for another nation; still not arrested, though.
* Her opponent was the chair of Lieberman for President, but she doesn't put that on her resume much.
* This 16-term congressman steered hundreds of millions of dollars in earmarks in exchange for contributions to his campaign committee and PAC but had the clout to get rid of two consecutive U.S. attorneys looking into the little matter.
* This guy was just denied a contest against an ex-congressman arrested while driving drunk to visit his second family in the Virginia suburbs. (Hint: there are no Mormons in this story.)
* He's the only member of the Republican House leadership who voted against Bush's no-strings-attached bailout for Wall Street banksters on both September 29 and October 3, 2008.
* Several Democrats can say they were Bush's "favorite Democrat," but only this one agreed to co-sponsor his bill to gut Social Security.
* Tuesday there's a bona fide progressive running against a conservative corporate shill in a closely contested runoff for an Arkansas House seat. Who's the conservative corporate shill?
* A staunch advocate of "Drill, Baby, Drill" and a protector of Wall Street banksters, this far right Republican managed to beat a blind rabbi in 2008 and will face an active member of the New York Guard this year.
* Another Palin-endorsed candidate flopped spectacularly Tuesday night. Who did Palin want her sadly underperforming candidate to run against in November?
* Which Democratic congressman in New York has drawn the most primary challengers?
* There are quite a few rock musicians in Congress, but this is the only one who was ever in a big band with a real smash hit (which he wrote).
* In 2008 this clown almost lost his election to a no-nonsense Democrat who is challenging him again. So this year fear got the better of him, and he just changed to another district.
* When it comes to key issues and tight votes, this guy has crossed the aisle to vote with the Republicans more frequently than any other Democrat.
So there you have it. Google is allowed. The first person to send all 20 correct answers wins the box of CDs. This contest is brought to you by Blue America, and if you want to donate to any of our candidates, here's the endorsement page. You don't have to donate in order to win.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
I am unreasonably and suddenly smitten
Oh, I know - it's a car. Again again. However, it's not a car I was ever expecting to be in deep smit with.
The Acura ZDX crossover has me by the eyelashes. It's ravishing! It's well reviewed! The interior colors have luscious names like "Sumatra" leather!
Even though I was yesterday all about the Bentley line, an Acura is more pedestrian and achievable.
I started watching "Capitalism: A Love Story" today. That, and some articles I've been reading about the efforts to dismantle social security have given me some ideas. Yes, they have.
Watch this space for details.
The Acura ZDX crossover has me by the eyelashes. It's ravishing! It's well reviewed! The interior colors have luscious names like "Sumatra" leather!
Even though I was yesterday all about the Bentley line, an Acura is more pedestrian and achievable.
I started watching "Capitalism: A Love Story" today. That, and some articles I've been reading about the efforts to dismantle social security have given me some ideas. Yes, they have.
Watch this space for details.
Monday, May 24, 2010
Stuff that's just kind of amazing, I guess.
Amazing to me, perhaps.
So, I live in an apartment that is nearly fifty years old. I haven't yet been able to persuade Wes to spend a few weeks here ripping out the kitchen and replacing it with a new, fabulous "WES-O-MATIC", but I love it nonetheless.
The bathroom mirrors displayed the years of unkempt residency - they resisted the best efforts I knew - straight ammonia, 10% bleach solution, 10% alcohol solution and Bon Ami cleanser.
Last night, I was thinking about cleaning the windows in the car - and grabbed my Meguire's Quik Mist and Wipe glass cleaner. Then, I thought .. naw, it's too bloody hot outside. But, the QM&W sat on the counter for a bit. And I began to think..
Naw, it just came in a gift box with the wax I wanted. It's just some schlock thing that won't .. naw.
It continued to taunt me. The Meguire's QM&W.
Finally, I broke down and took it and its companion microfibre cloth into the bathroom. Removed everything from the counter (the bathroom needing cleaned, after all) and turned off the halogen mini-spots. They don't respond really well to cool spray, I've heard.
I read the instructions, than quickly misted and wiped.
HOLY CRAP! The water marks on the side mirror that had resisted everything save for the Borg invasion were GONE!
(mist, mist, mist)
Lord have mercy.
It even pulled the schmutz off'n my ever-so-cute Marvin the Martian night light.
Astonished.
Still haven't been outside with it. Maybe tomorrow morning.
A few weekends ago, I was at the Ace Hardware (the good one in Tanglewilde) and I just love hanging out there. They are just so friendly and happy and thoughtful - I finally got the little butter thingie that I'd had my eye on, but I avoided the incredible Ninety Dollar wind chime that really wants to come live with me. I had paid, and was almost headed to the car when I remembered that I have been wanting to get an indoor clothes drying rack AND they sell'em at Ace.
And they had ONE.
Well, briefly, they had one. Then, they had NONE.
AND I LOVE THAT THING!
My apartment has a stacked Barbie Dream Washer/dryer - thus a full washer load goes right up on the rack. The clothes dry beautifully, and I am so pleased to NOT be running the dryer TWICE to dry a load of clothes.
Worked out my teaching schedule for Summer/Fall semesters today, and I *think* I'll be able to go to Oshkosh AND take a big-assed driving vacation for the month of August.
Buick go places.
The last few days, I've been wishing/hoping/praying for something to do when I'm not in front of a classroom and this afternoon - I think just that thing waltzed through the door! How cool is that?!
So, I'm sleepy and about to hit the sack for the night. Maybe I'll even go into the office in the MORNING.
So, I live in an apartment that is nearly fifty years old. I haven't yet been able to persuade Wes to spend a few weeks here ripping out the kitchen and replacing it with a new, fabulous "WES-O-MATIC", but I love it nonetheless.
The bathroom mirrors displayed the years of unkempt residency - they resisted the best efforts I knew - straight ammonia, 10% bleach solution, 10% alcohol solution and Bon Ami cleanser.
Last night, I was thinking about cleaning the windows in the car - and grabbed my Meguire's Quik Mist and Wipe glass cleaner. Then, I thought .. naw, it's too bloody hot outside. But, the QM&W sat on the counter for a bit. And I began to think..
Naw, it just came in a gift box with the wax I wanted. It's just some schlock thing that won't .. naw.
It continued to taunt me. The Meguire's QM&W.
Finally, I broke down and took it and its companion microfibre cloth into the bathroom. Removed everything from the counter (the bathroom needing cleaned, after all) and turned off the halogen mini-spots. They don't respond really well to cool spray, I've heard.
I read the instructions, than quickly misted and wiped.
HOLY CRAP! The water marks on the side mirror that had resisted everything save for the Borg invasion were GONE!
(mist, mist, mist)
Lord have mercy.
It even pulled the schmutz off'n my ever-so-cute Marvin the Martian night light.
Astonished.
Still haven't been outside with it. Maybe tomorrow morning.
A few weekends ago, I was at the Ace Hardware (the good one in Tanglewilde) and I just love hanging out there. They are just so friendly and happy and thoughtful - I finally got the little butter thingie that I'd had my eye on, but I avoided the incredible Ninety Dollar wind chime that really wants to come live with me. I had paid, and was almost headed to the car when I remembered that I have been wanting to get an indoor clothes drying rack AND they sell'em at Ace.
And they had ONE.
Well, briefly, they had one. Then, they had NONE.
AND I LOVE THAT THING!
My apartment has a stacked Barbie Dream Washer/dryer - thus a full washer load goes right up on the rack. The clothes dry beautifully, and I am so pleased to NOT be running the dryer TWICE to dry a load of clothes.
Worked out my teaching schedule for Summer/Fall semesters today, and I *think* I'll be able to go to Oshkosh AND take a big-assed driving vacation for the month of August.
Buick go places.
The last few days, I've been wishing/hoping/praying for something to do when I'm not in front of a classroom and this afternoon - I think just that thing waltzed through the door! How cool is that?!
So, I'm sleepy and about to hit the sack for the night. Maybe I'll even go into the office in the MORNING.
Thursday, May 20, 2010
I've never once used the word "Bored" in seven years of posts
Never once, except twice when I quoted someone else in their context, and not as a referent to my own boredom.
I don't think I've ever been bored before. People would say that they're bored, people harp on it all of the time, and I don't understand the concept. In fact, I would deride people who bitch about boredom (with my inside voice) because I figured that they're just lazy, or .. well, lazy.
But, I think that's what's ailing me now.
I'm not giving over half my life to some non-profit.
I don't have crazy people chasing me around (generally speaking).
I don't have any addicts or addictions.
I don't have any friends who aren't working full time, or in a relationship, or in another county.
Everything both at home and office is put away, unpacked, organized, cleaned, polished, labeled, dusted, or disposed of.
Aside from feeding myself, and deploying a microfiber dust rag every now and again, there is no maintenance. Three loads of laundry over the weekend. Now that I'm using an indoor clothes rack for drying, I don't even have to keep an ear tuned to the dryer's buzzer.
I don't have any unfinished business roiling my dreams.
And, I have no plans. Well, not until Saturday afternoon when I have five hours of mental cake-walking to engage in. And, I'll have to buy gas before then.
No visitors. No crises. I can't work up a good outrage about anything going on, because none of it is new, different or unexpected. We're ALL getting what we paid for, voted for, asked for and expected.
I have been asked by a number of people to lend a hand with this or that project, but it's all spec. Speculative. Non-income producing, except for maybe.
Maybe this is why people get married. I don't know.
If I had a job, I would have something to do, somewhere to go, something to interact with - but -
It took me all of fifteen minutes, searching on Amazon tonight for a Kindle series of perfect opera librettos (64 in all) to buy, download and research.
I read two sample books on my Kindle for PC tonight. Watched a DVD that was truly delightful (Joyeux Noel - about the first Christmas following the outbreak of war in 1914).
After Saturday's class, I have a brief dinner engagement and then nothing until the following Saturday, or maybe the previous Wednesday.
I guess it's a good thing that I didn't win last night's Powerball, because I'd be gone so fast looking for something new to engage in - you'd wonder what happened to me.
Sometime in June, that is, when you come back to thinking about why I've been so quiet.
I don't think I've ever been bored before. People would say that they're bored, people harp on it all of the time, and I don't understand the concept. In fact, I would deride people who bitch about boredom (with my inside voice) because I figured that they're just lazy, or .. well, lazy.
But, I think that's what's ailing me now.
I'm not giving over half my life to some non-profit.
I don't have crazy people chasing me around (generally speaking).
I don't have any addicts or addictions.
I don't have any friends who aren't working full time, or in a relationship, or in another county.
Everything both at home and office is put away, unpacked, organized, cleaned, polished, labeled, dusted, or disposed of.
Aside from feeding myself, and deploying a microfiber dust rag every now and again, there is no maintenance. Three loads of laundry over the weekend. Now that I'm using an indoor clothes rack for drying, I don't even have to keep an ear tuned to the dryer's buzzer.
I don't have any unfinished business roiling my dreams.
And, I have no plans. Well, not until Saturday afternoon when I have five hours of mental cake-walking to engage in. And, I'll have to buy gas before then.
No visitors. No crises. I can't work up a good outrage about anything going on, because none of it is new, different or unexpected. We're ALL getting what we paid for, voted for, asked for and expected.
I have been asked by a number of people to lend a hand with this or that project, but it's all spec. Speculative. Non-income producing, except for maybe.
Maybe this is why people get married. I don't know.
If I had a job, I would have something to do, somewhere to go, something to interact with - but -
It took me all of fifteen minutes, searching on Amazon tonight for a Kindle series of perfect opera librettos (64 in all) to buy, download and research.
I read two sample books on my Kindle for PC tonight. Watched a DVD that was truly delightful (Joyeux Noel - about the first Christmas following the outbreak of war in 1914).
After Saturday's class, I have a brief dinner engagement and then nothing until the following Saturday, or maybe the previous Wednesday.
I guess it's a good thing that I didn't win last night's Powerball, because I'd be gone so fast looking for something new to engage in - you'd wonder what happened to me.
Sometime in June, that is, when you come back to thinking about why I've been so quiet.
Thursday, May 06, 2010
I've been distracted
Wisdom, says Sternberg, is the tacit knowledge that lets a person balance two sets of things. First, wise people are able to balance their own needs, the needs of others, and the needs of people or things beyond their immediate interaction (e.g., institutions, the environment, or people who may be adversely affected later on). Ignorant people see everything in black and white--they rely heavily on the myth of pure eveil--and they are strongly influenced by their own self-interest.
The wise are able to seee things from others' points of view, appreciate shades of gray, and then choose or advise a course of action that works out best for everyone in the long run.
Aristotle says that being well or being happy is "an activity of soul in conformity with excellence or virtue." Aristotle wasn't saying that happiness comes from giving to the poor and supressing your sexuality.
Happiness Hypothesis Book,
The new (and seemingly quite pointless gay site) Fabulis has posed the question "Who's your real life hero?"
Here is my answer, which their site won't post - again - not quite sure WHY Fabulis, but maybe not SO Fabulis:
There are many people whose life path is heroic to me.
My dad and his siblings, for overcoming abject poverty, family violence, separation, foster families, abuse and yet all completing college, having successful careers and building middle class lives.
My father's mother, who made sure all of that happened.
The other day, though, my hair dresser told me her life's story -
Fled Vietnam at the age of 17 with her 13 year old brother in a small boat
Spent four years in Singaporean and Indonesian refugee "camps"
Injured in the camp so badly she could never have children
Finding a US church as a sponsor for her, her husband and her brother to enter the US
She and her husband working two full time jobs to put her brother through high school and college with no public assistance of any kind
Getting trained as a licensed hair stylist, working very hard until she and her husband had their own shop.
Still working hard, every day. Expecting no hand outs, having no complaints, feeling blessed by life.
She's here in this country, she's a citizen, she's employing people, giving them a place to work, her brother is married, has children and has an upper level career -
She's a hero. Every day.
I hope she doesn't go to Arizona now.
The wise are able to seee things from others' points of view, appreciate shades of gray, and then choose or advise a course of action that works out best for everyone in the long run.
Aristotle says that being well or being happy is "an activity of soul in conformity with excellence or virtue." Aristotle wasn't saying that happiness comes from giving to the poor and supressing your sexuality.
Happiness Hypothesis Book,
J. Haidt
The new (and seemingly quite pointless gay site) Fabulis has posed the question "Who's your real life hero?"
Here is my answer, which their site won't post - again - not quite sure WHY Fabulis, but maybe not SO Fabulis:
There are many people whose life path is heroic to me.
My dad and his siblings, for overcoming abject poverty, family violence, separation, foster families, abuse and yet all completing college, having successful careers and building middle class lives.
My father's mother, who made sure all of that happened.
The other day, though, my hair dresser told me her life's story -
Fled Vietnam at the age of 17 with her 13 year old brother in a small boat
Spent four years in Singaporean and Indonesian refugee "camps"
Injured in the camp so badly she could never have children
Finding a US church as a sponsor for her, her husband and her brother to enter the US
She and her husband working two full time jobs to put her brother through high school and college with no public assistance of any kind
Getting trained as a licensed hair stylist, working very hard until she and her husband had their own shop.
Still working hard, every day. Expecting no hand outs, having no complaints, feeling blessed by life.
She's here in this country, she's a citizen, she's employing people, giving them a place to work, her brother is married, has children and has an upper level career -
She's a hero. Every day.
I hope she doesn't go to Arizona now.
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Dixie Carter receives her homage but not from me
Well, I guess she must have kicked the bucket. Probably having a nigger democrat in the White House was more than her system could take.
I loved her work, and thought the world of her until the evening of the Texas/Wyoming ball following W's 2001 inauguration. I was already in a piss-poor mood, and working my way toward being pissed (as in drunk). Before W and Darth Vader arrived in the ballroom to address the minions, Dixie Carter took the stage and suggested to everyone that they, the winners, needed to extend a hand of friendship and conciliation across the aisle. She then launched into 10 minutes of rabid diatribe against liberals, the Clintons (who were no liberals, thank you) and the intellect of anyone who supported or voted for such people.
THEN, Kelsey Grammer joined her on the stage and they bantered back and forth a while.
After that evening, I've never given a moment's attention to the work of either, and I've chosen to leave or turn off any work by them that inadvertently came in front of me.
I'm sorry she's gone for the loss of her talent, and I know the pain of those who loved her as a person. However, she used her platform to spread hate and violence and for that I have no shame in saying "Good Riddance".
I loved her work, and thought the world of her until the evening of the Texas/Wyoming ball following W's 2001 inauguration. I was already in a piss-poor mood, and working my way toward being pissed (as in drunk). Before W and Darth Vader arrived in the ballroom to address the minions, Dixie Carter took the stage and suggested to everyone that they, the winners, needed to extend a hand of friendship and conciliation across the aisle. She then launched into 10 minutes of rabid diatribe against liberals, the Clintons (who were no liberals, thank you) and the intellect of anyone who supported or voted for such people.
THEN, Kelsey Grammer joined her on the stage and they bantered back and forth a while.
After that evening, I've never given a moment's attention to the work of either, and I've chosen to leave or turn off any work by them that inadvertently came in front of me.
I'm sorry she's gone for the loss of her talent, and I know the pain of those who loved her as a person. However, she used her platform to spread hate and violence and for that I have no shame in saying "Good Riddance".
Sunday, April 04, 2010
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Economizing and being green
"What a fool I was, what a dominated fool,
to think that you were the earth and the sky,
What a fool I was, What an elevated fool,
What a mutton-headed dote was I!
No, my reverberated friend,
you are not the beginning and the end."
"Without You", from the musical "My Fair Lady" by Lerner and Lowe
It occurs to me that the drum thumping we're hearing about "being green" is just a new way to sell us stuff.
I bought my first car of my own choosing in 1977. I bought my first brand new car in 1978. I have slavishly followed the introduction of new chrome trim, of slightly more horsepower, of new upholstery since well before I had a driver license.
I have spent, in a rough estimate, $117,800 in depreciation since 1977, plus all of the interest to have a few weeks of feeling like I had the newest, most up to date ..whatever.
Call it an even hundred fifty thou. To have six brand spankin' new GM cars and three brand spankin' new Ford cars that made me feel like I was the leader of the pack for a total of three months each, so twenty-seven months.
Five Thousand, Five Hundred, Fifty Five and 55/100 Dollars per month. $185.00 a day.
The point of this is that last week, I drove my twelve year old Buick to Dallas and back the same day. She achieved more than 28 miles per gallon on the freeway.
I paid $3800 for her, and she'll be worth $3800 tomorrow, next week and next year.
There is no loan, so she's costing me nothing, sitting out there in the car port. Just the insurance, which is only sixty bucks a month.
What do I give away by not having the newest, the most up to date car?
Fuel economy? Nothing.
Comfort? Nothing.
Gadgets? Nothing, once I install a new stereo into her.
Unique appearance? Find another one; I'm practically driving a flying saucer
Environmental emissions? Sure, my emissions aren't as clean as a brand new car - BUT I'm not consuming any new natural resources, or contributing to any new emissions related to the manufacturing process.
So, owning the car costs me nothing but the repairs, the gas mileage is equivalent to nearly anything sold newly, my safety features are up to date, my toys and features are up to date and this thing will NEVER cost me interest or depreciation.
And yet, the pull of the new car is so very strong.
But I'm done being a fool.
to think that you were the earth and the sky,
What a fool I was, What an elevated fool,
What a mutton-headed dote was I!
No, my reverberated friend,
you are not the beginning and the end."
"Without You", from the musical "My Fair Lady" by Lerner and Lowe
It occurs to me that the drum thumping we're hearing about "being green" is just a new way to sell us stuff.
I bought my first car of my own choosing in 1977. I bought my first brand new car in 1978. I have slavishly followed the introduction of new chrome trim, of slightly more horsepower, of new upholstery since well before I had a driver license.
I have spent, in a rough estimate, $117,800 in depreciation since 1977, plus all of the interest to have a few weeks of feeling like I had the newest, most up to date ..whatever.
Call it an even hundred fifty thou. To have six brand spankin' new GM cars and three brand spankin' new Ford cars that made me feel like I was the leader of the pack for a total of three months each, so twenty-seven months.
Five Thousand, Five Hundred, Fifty Five and 55/100 Dollars per month. $185.00 a day.
The point of this is that last week, I drove my twelve year old Buick to Dallas and back the same day. She achieved more than 28 miles per gallon on the freeway.
I paid $3800 for her, and she'll be worth $3800 tomorrow, next week and next year.
There is no loan, so she's costing me nothing, sitting out there in the car port. Just the insurance, which is only sixty bucks a month.
What do I give away by not having the newest, the most up to date car?
Fuel economy? Nothing.
Comfort? Nothing.
Gadgets? Nothing, once I install a new stereo into her.
Unique appearance? Find another one; I'm practically driving a flying saucer
Environmental emissions? Sure, my emissions aren't as clean as a brand new car - BUT I'm not consuming any new natural resources, or contributing to any new emissions related to the manufacturing process.
So, owning the car costs me nothing but the repairs, the gas mileage is equivalent to nearly anything sold newly, my safety features are up to date, my toys and features are up to date and this thing will NEVER cost me interest or depreciation.
And yet, the pull of the new car is so very strong.
But I'm done being a fool.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
The Dark Side of Women
(a little story forwarded to me by my Dark Side gal pal Ruth)
A woman was in town on a shopping trip. She began her day by finding the most perfect shoes in the first shop and a beautiful dress on sale in the second. In the third, everything had just been reduced by 50 percent when her mobile phone rang.
It was a female doctor notifying her that her husband had just been in a terrible car accident and was in critical condition in the ICU. The woman told the doctor to inform her husband where she was and that she'd be there as soon as possible.
As she hung up she realized she was leaving what was shaping up to be her best day ever in the boutiques. She decided to get in a couple more shops before heading to the hospital. She ended up shopping the rest of the morning, finishing her trip with a cup of coffee and a beautiful chocolate cake slice, compliments of the last shop . She was jubilant. Then she remembered her husband. Feeling guilty, she dashed to the hospital. She saw the woman doctor in the corridor and asked about her husband's condition.
The doctor glared at her and shouted, "You went ahead and finished your shopping trip, didn't you!? I hope you're proud of yourself! While you were out for the past four hours enjoying yourself in town, your husband has been languishing in the Intensive Care Unit!
It's just as well you went ahead and finished, because it will more than likely be the last shopping trip you ever take! For the rest of his life he will require round-the-clock care. And he will now be your career!"
The woman, overcome with guilt, broke down and sobbed.
Then the woman doctor chuckled and said, "I'm just messing with you. He's dead. Show me what you bought."
A woman was in town on a shopping trip. She began her day by finding the most perfect shoes in the first shop and a beautiful dress on sale in the second. In the third, everything had just been reduced by 50 percent when her mobile phone rang.
It was a female doctor notifying her that her husband had just been in a terrible car accident and was in critical condition in the ICU. The woman told the doctor to inform her husband where she was and that she'd be there as soon as possible.
As she hung up she realized she was leaving what was shaping up to be her best day ever in the boutiques. She decided to get in a couple more shops before heading to the hospital. She ended up shopping the rest of the morning, finishing her trip with a cup of coffee and a beautiful chocolate cake slice, compliments of the last shop . She was jubilant. Then she remembered her husband. Feeling guilty, she dashed to the hospital. She saw the woman doctor in the corridor and asked about her husband's condition.
The doctor glared at her and shouted, "You went ahead and finished your shopping trip, didn't you!? I hope you're proud of yourself! While you were out for the past four hours enjoying yourself in town, your husband has been languishing in the Intensive Care Unit!
It's just as well you went ahead and finished, because it will more than likely be the last shopping trip you ever take! For the rest of his life he will require round-the-clock care. And he will now be your career!"
The woman, overcome with guilt, broke down and sobbed.
Then the woman doctor chuckled and said, "I'm just messing with you. He's dead. Show me what you bought."
Monday, February 15, 2010
Just a little larger
A weekend of dichotomy.
The laundry room is working again, thank GAWD. Three loads of laundry, completed. Clothing put up.
Yesterday was very satisfying, leading review courses at UH. Had dinner with Lance, which was also very satisfying.
Today, just light housework and the aforementioned laundry.
We haven't heard a peep from that birther Orly Tait lately - did she go underground?
Newly fixated upon -
It's amazing how much of what we want or need is already right there waiting for us. My leather desk chair, non-working these last couple of years, has been lingering around and hoping for salvation for some time. My "other" desk chair, which was never very comfortable, had a working support strut, but was missing other important parts.
I was going to figure out how to pull apart the "good" but broken chair and fix it, and put the "bad" but mostly unbroken chair out by the curb and .. as it turns out, the bases for the two chairs were identical. With Dina's help, I swapped them out and VOILA! I have my "good" chair back and the "bad" chair is in pieces.
Dina was amazed at the expression on my face when we finally had the chair put together, in place and I sat down in it for the first time.
I must admit that it's VERY pleasing. Chairy, in fact.
I keep finding other elements that are just .. THERE when I need them; they fall to hand.
These are all very good things! And there will be happiness.
I'm starting to move into a place where life and its course are directed and chosen, rather than making do and settling. Exciting times!
The laundry room is working again, thank GAWD. Three loads of laundry, completed. Clothing put up.
Yesterday was very satisfying, leading review courses at UH. Had dinner with Lance, which was also very satisfying.
Today, just light housework and the aforementioned laundry.
We haven't heard a peep from that birther Orly Tait lately - did she go underground?
Newly fixated upon -
- Samson, the white chow chow
- the 1/100th scale remote control Titanic model
- changing my own patterns and focus - some more
- finding my own "style", rather than adapting to incorporate hand me downs
- setting my own path, rather than reacting
- Stock #4404
It's amazing how much of what we want or need is already right there waiting for us. My leather desk chair, non-working these last couple of years, has been lingering around and hoping for salvation for some time. My "other" desk chair, which was never very comfortable, had a working support strut, but was missing other important parts.
I was going to figure out how to pull apart the "good" but broken chair and fix it, and put the "bad" but mostly unbroken chair out by the curb and .. as it turns out, the bases for the two chairs were identical. With Dina's help, I swapped them out and VOILA! I have my "good" chair back and the "bad" chair is in pieces.
Dina was amazed at the expression on my face when we finally had the chair put together, in place and I sat down in it for the first time.
I must admit that it's VERY pleasing. Chairy, in fact.
I keep finding other elements that are just .. THERE when I need them; they fall to hand.
These are all very good things! And there will be happiness.
I'm starting to move into a place where life and its course are directed and chosen, rather than making do and settling. Exciting times!
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Just my prognostication
I've not before today been so very excited to make a friend with someone I have never met. Today, I saw an opportunity to send Dahlia Lithwick a compliment for her outstanding work in tracking the United States Supreme Court (referred to in the news and blog business as SCOTUS). While it may have seemed heavily frosted, I only expressed how I really felt and she added me as a friend.
I am honored and thrilled. She's the business, the dope, the real deal.
Monday night, I had also the great pleasure of having dinner with Lance at Johnny Carrabba's non-mainstream restaurant. We talked, as usual, about a great many things, and he asked me my thoughts about SCOTUS and their recent decision regarding the free speech of corporations to intercede in politics and elections.
In case you have been hiding in your living room with your color TV and your radial tires, hoping to be left alone, the Five Supremes (the fascisti plus Kennedy) decided that corporations had unlimited free speech rights, and could not be limited in that speech to how much money they spent to promote their own goals and ideas. Now, the only focus has been on the unlimited speech of corporations; their ruling also applies to individuals.
So, if you're an individual with unlimited funds, and you wish to produce a movie, a symphony, a television series to promote your political ideology, knock yourself out.
However, even Bill Gates pales in personal resource as compared to the likes of the multinational corporations that already hold sway over our governmental processes.
Bill Gates entire fortune approximates the quarterly profits of ExxonMobil, for instance.
Lance asked me what I thought the outcome of this decision would be.
As does my new FB friend Dahlia, I try to take a longer view toward things -
I think that indeed, there will be a Niagra Falls torrent of money into "soft" campaign manipulation - corporations can now create their own political ads, their own films, television programs, books, print ads, billboards, magazines, door hangars, push cards, polls, sky writers...
However, I think that the normal and unintended consequence of such decisions will far more quickly come to light here.
The "rights" offered by SCOTUS to political speech are not restricted to "citizen" corporations of these United States. That, plus the tendency of any organization or individual to hang itself when given enough rope will put a final stop to this entire Randian intrusion into our public affairs.
Hypothesis: Large, foreign corporation desires to take over "domestic" corporation. They create ads, movies, films, video, television imploring government action in FAVOR of their desire. Their "target" has not the resources to fight them off.
Per SCOTUS, that's just fine.
Hypothesis: Well established Congresscritter behaves in traditional manner, and publicly, legislatively supports "domestic" corporation against aggression, or supports any position antagonistic to large corporation. Large corporation create ads, movies, films, video, television directly in opposition to well established Congresscritter.
If something were worth, say, a couple of billion dollars in increased profits to any one corporation, why would they not open the financial floodgates?
The entire "race for the presidency" in 2008 consumed just over $1B (Billion. A thousand million in US counting.) If, say, the remaining "sisters" (no one remembers the Seven Sisters. Life used to be so poetic) got together to promote fossil fuels, they could dredge up over a billion dollars with (four? three?) phone calls.
How could well established politicians even begin to cope with a billion dollars of antiphony?
I'll tell you how -
Hypothesis: Congresscritters will have to abandon even the fiction that they are now representing "the People", as "the People" cannot financially compete with the newly right-ed corporate world.
Congresscritters will be whipsawed back and forth between whichever checkbook is screaming the loudest.
You know what's going to be fun about that?
The Congresscritters will HATE it. They'll hate every second of it. They can no longer maintain their fiction that they're elected to serve the people (this ad hominem does not include Alan Grayson of Orlando, bless the man) they can no longer ensure their own succession to their elected office, and even if they do the bidding of what seems to be the loudest checkbook, there will be no continuity in their ability to bet on the right horse.
The media and publication world will be awash in "creative" product that shills for more corporate profit.
Yes, we have that now. Product placement has given away to vaguely disguised creative product that exists solely to promote. Cynic though I may be, has it occurred to anyone that "Ugly Betty" is canceled shortly after all of the big designers and design houses have been featured thereon?
If you were a Veep in charge of increase profits (and your bonus) and you realized you could get your clothing successfully hawked at every Wal-Mart in the world by having glamorous models flounce around wearing them while being glamorized by the star designer him/herself, the whole while the advertising impact is subtly poured into the consumer's blood stream by a hinky, loveable heroine and amusing dialogue, wouldn't you haul out the checkbook?
It's actually CHEAPER to underwrite a season of a show like Ugly Betty than it is to throw down advertising in magazines, newspapers, internet banners, internet websites, social networking sites, radio, cable, television ...
"Hey, let's just underwrite or create a hit show!"
And the people won't realize that they're drinking the Kool-Aid.
All of it, all of it legitimized by the tortured "logic" of Justice Kennedy's law clerks. My new friend Dahlia has analyzed this, in a series of articles you can find starting with this one.
Did anyone notice that (so far as I could see) the ENTIRE house, EVERY Congresscritter stood and applauded the President's remarks castigating SCOTUS for this decision?
Why would they do that? Is it that they realize that the end to their gravy ladling is neigh?
If, to assure their own elected continuity, they have to create a Constitional amendment to reign in this insanity, so aptly predicted by Paddy Cheyefsky, the battle will be on between the real live little boy created by SCOTUS and known to use as the multi-national corporations and the Congresscritters who gladly labor in their behalf, but are unwilling to participate in an all out bloodbath.
Each one of those corporate leaders will want THEIRS to be the surviving holding company, and the new generals will be the investment bankers who will profit from every skirmish, whether won or lost.
I promised prognostication. Here it is - via metaphor, then clarification.
When you own a house, and you have a dripping water pipe, most of the time you may wonder from time to time why your water bill has increased but you note nothing amiss.
After a time, the drip grows into a constant trickle, and you may find a little dampness, which you mop up, and wonder whether maybe you shouldn't look into it. Yet, there is no impetus.
After a further time, the trickle becomes a steady leak, which undermines foundations, saturates floor plates, and risers, rafters and studs. You may smell some mustiness, or some dampness - but, there's been a lot of rain after all.
One evening, you come home from your day at the modern salt mines - you have labored with no purpose, you have striven for fewer wages, you have accepted longer hours, and shorter vacations, and fewer benefits - and you find that the ceiling has collapsed in a soggy heap of destroyed sheet rock, water pours down from a clearly broken pipe and the floor is ankle deep in water. The carpeting is ruined, the furniture is wet to the knee, the electronics are shorted out -
Will your insurance cover it?
Hey, guess what - the insurance companies have managed to get that considered part of a flood policy, which you didn't buy, because after all - it doesn't flood where you are.
What SCOTUS has done here is to apply the heavy pipe wrench to loosen the pipe right where it's been leaking for thirty years.
And we, the People are about to walk into a soggy, wet mess and find we have no insurance.
In the longer view, I feel that we have begun to see the force that will bring down this house we have been living in. This house with the leaky pipes, that has for so long seemed sound and sturdy.
The salesman has been telling us all along that this is just the right house for us.
In parody of the current featured saleswoman, the People are about to question just how well that "Ayn-ey Rand-ey style of governing" has worked out for us.
(cross posted on Daily Kos)
I am honored and thrilled. She's the business, the dope, the real deal.
Monday night, I had also the great pleasure of having dinner with Lance at Johnny Carrabba's non-mainstream restaurant. We talked, as usual, about a great many things, and he asked me my thoughts about SCOTUS and their recent decision regarding the free speech of corporations to intercede in politics and elections.
In case you have been hiding in your living room with your color TV and your radial tires, hoping to be left alone, the Five Supremes (the fascisti plus Kennedy) decided that corporations had unlimited free speech rights, and could not be limited in that speech to how much money they spent to promote their own goals and ideas. Now, the only focus has been on the unlimited speech of corporations; their ruling also applies to individuals.
So, if you're an individual with unlimited funds, and you wish to produce a movie, a symphony, a television series to promote your political ideology, knock yourself out.
However, even Bill Gates pales in personal resource as compared to the likes of the multinational corporations that already hold sway over our governmental processes.
Bill Gates entire fortune approximates the quarterly profits of ExxonMobil, for instance.
Lance asked me what I thought the outcome of this decision would be.
As does my new FB friend Dahlia, I try to take a longer view toward things -
I think that indeed, there will be a Niagra Falls torrent of money into "soft" campaign manipulation - corporations can now create their own political ads, their own films, television programs, books, print ads, billboards, magazines, door hangars, push cards, polls, sky writers...
However, I think that the normal and unintended consequence of such decisions will far more quickly come to light here.
The "rights" offered by SCOTUS to political speech are not restricted to "citizen" corporations of these United States. That, plus the tendency of any organization or individual to hang itself when given enough rope will put a final stop to this entire Randian intrusion into our public affairs.
Hypothesis: Large, foreign corporation desires to take over "domestic" corporation. They create ads, movies, films, video, television imploring government action in FAVOR of their desire. Their "target" has not the resources to fight them off.
Per SCOTUS, that's just fine.
Hypothesis: Well established Congresscritter behaves in traditional manner, and publicly, legislatively supports "domestic" corporation against aggression, or supports any position antagonistic to large corporation. Large corporation create ads, movies, films, video, television directly in opposition to well established Congresscritter.
If something were worth, say, a couple of billion dollars in increased profits to any one corporation, why would they not open the financial floodgates?
The entire "race for the presidency" in 2008 consumed just over $1B (Billion. A thousand million in US counting.) If, say, the remaining "sisters" (no one remembers the Seven Sisters. Life used to be so poetic) got together to promote fossil fuels, they could dredge up over a billion dollars with (four? three?) phone calls.
How could well established politicians even begin to cope with a billion dollars of antiphony?
I'll tell you how -
Hypothesis: Congresscritters will have to abandon even the fiction that they are now representing "the People", as "the People" cannot financially compete with the newly right-ed corporate world.
Congresscritters will be whipsawed back and forth between whichever checkbook is screaming the loudest.
You know what's going to be fun about that?
The Congresscritters will HATE it. They'll hate every second of it. They can no longer maintain their fiction that they're elected to serve the people (this ad hominem does not include Alan Grayson of Orlando, bless the man) they can no longer ensure their own succession to their elected office, and even if they do the bidding of what seems to be the loudest checkbook, there will be no continuity in their ability to bet on the right horse.
The media and publication world will be awash in "creative" product that shills for more corporate profit.
Yes, we have that now. Product placement has given away to vaguely disguised creative product that exists solely to promote. Cynic though I may be, has it occurred to anyone that "Ugly Betty" is canceled shortly after all of the big designers and design houses have been featured thereon?
If you were a Veep in charge of increase profits (and your bonus) and you realized you could get your clothing successfully hawked at every Wal-Mart in the world by having glamorous models flounce around wearing them while being glamorized by the star designer him/herself, the whole while the advertising impact is subtly poured into the consumer's blood stream by a hinky, loveable heroine and amusing dialogue, wouldn't you haul out the checkbook?
It's actually CHEAPER to underwrite a season of a show like Ugly Betty than it is to throw down advertising in magazines, newspapers, internet banners, internet websites, social networking sites, radio, cable, television ...
"Hey, let's just underwrite or create a hit show!"
And the people won't realize that they're drinking the Kool-Aid.
All of it, all of it legitimized by the tortured "logic" of Justice Kennedy's law clerks. My new friend Dahlia has analyzed this, in a series of articles you can find starting with this one.
Did anyone notice that (so far as I could see) the ENTIRE house, EVERY Congresscritter stood and applauded the President's remarks castigating SCOTUS for this decision?
Why would they do that? Is it that they realize that the end to their gravy ladling is neigh?
If, to assure their own elected continuity, they have to create a Constitional amendment to reign in this insanity, so aptly predicted by Paddy Cheyefsky, the battle will be on between the real live little boy created by SCOTUS and known to use as the multi-national corporations and the Congresscritters who gladly labor in their behalf, but are unwilling to participate in an all out bloodbath.
You have meddled with the primal forces of nature, Mr. Beale, and I won't have it, is that clear?! You think you have merely stopped a business deal -- that is not the case! The Arabs have taken billions of dollars out of this country, and now they must put it back. It is ebb and flow, tidal gravity, it is ecological balance! You are an old man who thinks in terms of nations and peoples. There are no nations! There are no peoples! There are no Russians. There are no Arabs! There are no third worlds! There is no West! There is only one holistic system of systems, one vast and immane, interwoven, interacting, multi-variate, multi-national dominion of dollars! petro-dollars, electro-dollars, multi-dollars!, Reichmarks, rubles, rin, pounds and shekels! It is the international system of currency that determines the totality of life on this planet! That is the natural order of things today! That is the atomic, subatomic and galactic structure of things today! And you have meddled with the primal forces of nature, and you will atone! Am I getting through to you, Mr. Beale? (pause) You get up on your little twenty-one inch screen, and howl about America and democracy. There is no America. There is no democracy. There is only IBM and ITT and AT&T and Dupont, Dow, Union Carbide and Exxon. Those are the nations of the world today. What do you think the Russians talk about in their councils of state -- Karl Marx? They pull out their linear programming charts, statistical decision theories and minimax solutions and compute the price-cost probabilities of their transactions and investments just like we do.So, the battle is now no longer between nations. With the advent of this torrent of corporate communication, the battle will quickly become that of Dassault and EADS versus Boeing, Hyundai versus Tata, AT&T versus Deutsche Telekomm, SkyTeam versus Star, Con-Agra versus A-D-M.
We no longer live in a world of nations and ideologies, Mr. Beale. The world is a college of corporations, inexorably deter- mined by the immutable by-laws of business. The world is a business, Mr. Beale! It has been since man crawled out of the slime, and our children, Mr.Beale, will live to see that perfect world in which there is no war and famine, oppression and brutality --one vast and ecumenical holding company, for whom all men will work to serve a common profit, in which all men will hold a share of stock, all necessities provided, all anxieties tranquilized, all boredom amused. And I have chosen you to preach this evangel, Mr. Beale.
(Ned Beatty as as Arthur Jensen, to Howard Beale played by Peter Finch, in the movie Network, 1976, written by Paddy Chayefsky)
Each one of those corporate leaders will want THEIRS to be the surviving holding company, and the new generals will be the investment bankers who will profit from every skirmish, whether won or lost.
I promised prognostication. Here it is - via metaphor, then clarification.
When you own a house, and you have a dripping water pipe, most of the time you may wonder from time to time why your water bill has increased but you note nothing amiss.
After a time, the drip grows into a constant trickle, and you may find a little dampness, which you mop up, and wonder whether maybe you shouldn't look into it. Yet, there is no impetus.
After a further time, the trickle becomes a steady leak, which undermines foundations, saturates floor plates, and risers, rafters and studs. You may smell some mustiness, or some dampness - but, there's been a lot of rain after all.
One evening, you come home from your day at the modern salt mines - you have labored with no purpose, you have striven for fewer wages, you have accepted longer hours, and shorter vacations, and fewer benefits - and you find that the ceiling has collapsed in a soggy heap of destroyed sheet rock, water pours down from a clearly broken pipe and the floor is ankle deep in water. The carpeting is ruined, the furniture is wet to the knee, the electronics are shorted out -
Will your insurance cover it?
Hey, guess what - the insurance companies have managed to get that considered part of a flood policy, which you didn't buy, because after all - it doesn't flood where you are.
What SCOTUS has done here is to apply the heavy pipe wrench to loosen the pipe right where it's been leaking for thirty years.
And we, the People are about to walk into a soggy, wet mess and find we have no insurance.
In the longer view, I feel that we have begun to see the force that will bring down this house we have been living in. This house with the leaky pipes, that has for so long seemed sound and sturdy.
The salesman has been telling us all along that this is just the right house for us.
In parody of the current featured saleswoman, the People are about to question just how well that "Ayn-ey Rand-ey style of governing" has worked out for us.
(cross posted on Daily Kos)
The heat is ON
And not in a kitschy, 80's music sort of a way. The heat is on, because it's fricking COLD outside (hence inside).
I awoke two hours ago, and got up - it's thunder-y and gray outside. I still need to do laundry, but .. it's too cold to schlepp it outside I think.
It's raining consistently outside now. I have a done of work to accomplish (again) today, so - nearly time to run off!
I *finally* drove the new Camaro the other day. I've been to three dealers previously, and been told a.) we don't let anyone DRIVE them but buyers, b.) you'll have to give a $500 deposit to test drive it, and c.) we have no new ones, only used ones with zero mileage and a $4500 per unit markup.
However, that nice Joe Mahlow at Mac Haik Chevy was a unique experience in the auto selling world. Allow me to share with you my experience that recommends him quite highly:
I LOVE THE NEW CAMARO!
It drives very, very well - it's actually a sweet drive.
YES, it's tank-like in terms of outside viewing, but have any of the (under 40) reviewers so complaining about that issue EVER driven (when they were young and feeling their oats) a pre-1981 Camaro? We are not talking about floor to ceiling windows here.
I think that a lot of reviewers miss the point entirely about the new Camaro - and, largely, the new Mustang and Challenger - these are not cars to provide for sensible transportation of an owner and their belongings/friends. These are cars that are to provide persons who are a bit older a connection to that sense of pride, excitement and uniqueness that they enjoyed prior to the ascension of a B roll actor to the Presidency in having owned one of these cars in their youth.
I can appreciate that perhaps the Challenger has some features that are better than the Camaro, and that the redesigned Mustang may be a better driving and handling car than is either the Challenger or the Camaro, but the point is utterly missed.
If GM/Ford/FiatChry fka DamilerCo can capture the hearts and memories of a few tens of thousands of the millions upon millions of people who owned or were thwarted in their desires for their youthful dream car, they'll succeed mightily. Just as has VW succeeded in this country with the New Beetle, the 'Murrican manufacturers are tapping into an aging market demographic of people who just want to drive what they felt good about BACK THEN, but updated for fuel economy, safety and convenience.
I, for one, am captivated. I was never a Mustang man, and although I loved the Pentastar ponies, I was a Camaro kook from the get-go. My hip and crazy cool Aunt Liz had a 1969 Camaro RS/SS convertible - black, black buckets, black top, hidden headlamps, Rallye II wheels, full console, four little secondary gauges on the console ..
That. Car. Was. Cool. Embodied.
Okay, so it drove atrociously, it rode poorly, it had no back seat, a mail slot trunk, and it was impossible to see out of, unless the top was down - BUT ..
My 1979 Camaro remains the favorite car I've ever owned. Ever. Ever ever. But, that has little to do with its build quality, its ride quality, its handling ..
It was how I FELT.
The 2010 Camaro gets me back there.
I awoke two hours ago, and got up - it's thunder-y and gray outside. I still need to do laundry, but .. it's too cold to schlepp it outside I think.
It's raining consistently outside now. I have a done of work to accomplish (again) today, so - nearly time to run off!
I *finally* drove the new Camaro the other day. I've been to three dealers previously, and been told a.) we don't let anyone DRIVE them but buyers, b.) you'll have to give a $500 deposit to test drive it, and c.) we have no new ones, only used ones with zero mileage and a $4500 per unit markup.
However, that nice Joe Mahlow at Mac Haik Chevy was a unique experience in the auto selling world. Allow me to share with you my experience that recommends him quite highly:
- He answered my internet inquiry. He spelled everything correctly, and answered the questions posed cogently and specifically.
- He greeted me, took me to the car we were discussing, answered questions, and seemed to be understanding that an internet buyer processes and decides differently than does a "traditional" buyer
- He was very amenable to a follow up visit, as my time was limited.
- He responded to my follow up email and answered my questions, and shared available choices with me
I LOVE THE NEW CAMARO!
It drives very, very well - it's actually a sweet drive.
YES, it's tank-like in terms of outside viewing, but have any of the (under 40) reviewers so complaining about that issue EVER driven (when they were young and feeling their oats) a pre-1981 Camaro? We are not talking about floor to ceiling windows here.
I think that a lot of reviewers miss the point entirely about the new Camaro - and, largely, the new Mustang and Challenger - these are not cars to provide for sensible transportation of an owner and their belongings/friends. These are cars that are to provide persons who are a bit older a connection to that sense of pride, excitement and uniqueness that they enjoyed prior to the ascension of a B roll actor to the Presidency in having owned one of these cars in their youth.
I can appreciate that perhaps the Challenger has some features that are better than the Camaro, and that the redesigned Mustang may be a better driving and handling car than is either the Challenger or the Camaro, but the point is utterly missed.
If GM/Ford/FiatChry fka DamilerCo can capture the hearts and memories of a few tens of thousands of the millions upon millions of people who owned or were thwarted in their desires for their youthful dream car, they'll succeed mightily. Just as has VW succeeded in this country with the New Beetle, the 'Murrican manufacturers are tapping into an aging market demographic of people who just want to drive what they felt good about BACK THEN, but updated for fuel economy, safety and convenience.
I, for one, am captivated. I was never a Mustang man, and although I loved the Pentastar ponies, I was a Camaro kook from the get-go. My hip and crazy cool Aunt Liz had a 1969 Camaro RS/SS convertible - black, black buckets, black top, hidden headlamps, Rallye II wheels, full console, four little secondary gauges on the console ..
That. Car. Was. Cool. Embodied.
Okay, so it drove atrociously, it rode poorly, it had no back seat, a mail slot trunk, and it was impossible to see out of, unless the top was down - BUT ..
My 1979 Camaro remains the favorite car I've ever owned. Ever. Ever ever. But, that has little to do with its build quality, its ride quality, its handling ..
It was how I FELT.
The 2010 Camaro gets me back there.
Monday, February 08, 2010
Midnight Moonlight matinee
I am up, apartment tidied and readied, everything organized to take to the car, about to have breakfast and head out (post shower) which at 0714 is pretty damned amazing. I normally am stepping into consciousness at this hour..
Had a dream last night about writing unusual financial articles regarding cars - was reviewing used sales by model and considering increases in sales together with average reported used sales values to determine which cars were GOING to be dogs, and which levels of trade could suggest mechanical/reliability issues. The dream then segued into the Chevy Camaro, and I was driving one (loaned by someone; I still didn't like spending my money on cars) - the hood wouldn't latch, the valance between the radiator and front fascia was so weak and flimsy that it seemed it would break even more than it had, and the boot cover (this car, in the dream, was a convertible) wouldn't latch down - the only way to GET it to stay down was to put the top UP.
But, then I got in it and drove it like I was JoDB (JoDB is my friend who used to race Porsche cars and now sells Audis) or something. THAT part was awesome. Especially since we were parked inside of the old Manhattan post office, which had also been the New York Fed. I had a delightful but willful dark chocolate colored male Chow Chow dog who didn't like the back seat of the Camaro so much.
And then .. I woke up.
Not as disturbing as previous nightly dreams, but..
We're currently experiencing pollen from both ash and juniper (cedar) which, according to the "newz" is "mild to moderate".
I protest that they are not wise to the ways of the ash and juniper pollens. I've been crazy whacked out from the pollens now for more than three weeks. Pollen.com suggests that the pollen is "medium-high" which again calls into question the ability of those at our local "newzpaper" to .. um .. read.
If you're one who dreads pollination, you should zip on over to pollen.com and fill out a free profile. Without having to subscribe to a barrage of ads from big pharma, you can check out pollen counts by zip code, what is in season and get a four day allergy forecast by email each morning.
If you're allergic to cat dander, all I can suggest is to stay away from the old lady on the corner with the cats.
Had a dream last night about writing unusual financial articles regarding cars - was reviewing used sales by model and considering increases in sales together with average reported used sales values to determine which cars were GOING to be dogs, and which levels of trade could suggest mechanical/reliability issues. The dream then segued into the Chevy Camaro, and I was driving one (loaned by someone; I still didn't like spending my money on cars) - the hood wouldn't latch, the valance between the radiator and front fascia was so weak and flimsy that it seemed it would break even more than it had, and the boot cover (this car, in the dream, was a convertible) wouldn't latch down - the only way to GET it to stay down was to put the top UP.
But, then I got in it and drove it like I was JoDB (JoDB is my friend who used to race Porsche cars and now sells Audis) or something. THAT part was awesome. Especially since we were parked inside of the old Manhattan post office, which had also been the New York Fed. I had a delightful but willful dark chocolate colored male Chow Chow dog who didn't like the back seat of the Camaro so much.
And then .. I woke up.
Not as disturbing as previous nightly dreams, but..
We're currently experiencing pollen from both ash and juniper (cedar) which, according to the "newz" is "mild to moderate".
I protest that they are not wise to the ways of the ash and juniper pollens. I've been crazy whacked out from the pollens now for more than three weeks. Pollen.com suggests that the pollen is "medium-high" which again calls into question the ability of those at our local "newzpaper" to .. um .. read.
If you're one who dreads pollination, you should zip on over to pollen.com and fill out a free profile. Without having to subscribe to a barrage of ads from big pharma, you can check out pollen counts by zip code, what is in season and get a four day allergy forecast by email each morning.
If you're allergic to cat dander, all I can suggest is to stay away from the old lady on the corner with the cats.
Friday, January 29, 2010
WHOOP DOODLE!
San Francisco! I love this place.
On the way here, I sat next a guy flying ultimately to Sacramento. His inbound flight had been delayed by the heavy thundershowers in Houston early this morning, and he mis-connected to his early SMF flight. He was routed onto my flight, and then to a connection to Sacto.
He and the other woman in our row were both kvetching about Continental. Basically, Continental was clearly inadequate because they didn't call the guy's original outbound back to the gate.
"I could see it through the window, they'd pushed back but they were just sitting there!"
I said nothing. I just kept reading my book.
The woman on the aisle started in - our flight was scheduled at 11:05, and it was 11:08 - they had already told us we had a very minor maintenance issue - but SHE just KNEW that we were going to be sitting there - captive on the plane.
Moments later, we were told that the maintenance issue was that a seat back wouldn't lock, and mechanics were working on it. She just KNEW that they were making an excuse - Continental was clearly about to cancel the flight.
More people boarded - a steady trickle of people looking for overhead space and a seat.
Now, she just KNEW that Continental was holding out flight to accommodate a few other passengers, that they could cancel another Continental flight later today.
They then closed up the boarding door, but we didn't push back right away. We were now about twelve minutes after scheduled departure.
My row-mates now began to postulate on just how late we were going to be; my SMF bound neighbor was convinced he was now going to get stuck in SFO, as he'd clearly miss his connection.
The flight crew then told us that the jetway wasn't retracting, that the ground techs were working on it, and that they expected to arrive on time in spite of the late departure.
"Now, why would they say THAT?" More speculation.
I kept reading my book. I reflected on my own judgment of their conversation, and decided I needed to take a chill pill.
We were flying on a brand-spanking new airplane, with in seat DirecTV at every seat. We had six flight attendants, were served a free hot meal, had three drink services, and we arrived on the dot. Not a single moment later than the schedule had suggested.
As we taxied into the gate (without delay), my seat mate was suggesting that he had nearly taken a cab across Houston to Hobby Airport, to catch a Southwest flight home.
My ability to hold my tongue evaporated.
"Yes, I've heard that they have better weather"
"Huh? At Hobby?"
"No. Southwest. They have far better weather than does Continental"
I mean, really? We just flew across the continent in a brand new, clean, safe, comfortable airplane, you just got to watch two feature films AND Fox News at your seat, you were fed for free, we arrived right on time AND for three hundred dollars?
A trip from Houston to San Francisco just fifty years ago would have taken a day. Seventy years ago would have taken two and a half. A hundred and fifty years ago, it would have taken MONTHS.
I have a lot more to say about this issue, but I'm gonna stop bitching, and go with David to have some Goat Hill pizza
On the way here, I sat next a guy flying ultimately to Sacramento. His inbound flight had been delayed by the heavy thundershowers in Houston early this morning, and he mis-connected to his early SMF flight. He was routed onto my flight, and then to a connection to Sacto.
He and the other woman in our row were both kvetching about Continental. Basically, Continental was clearly inadequate because they didn't call the guy's original outbound back to the gate.
"I could see it through the window, they'd pushed back but they were just sitting there!"
I said nothing. I just kept reading my book.
The woman on the aisle started in - our flight was scheduled at 11:05, and it was 11:08 - they had already told us we had a very minor maintenance issue - but SHE just KNEW that we were going to be sitting there - captive on the plane.
Moments later, we were told that the maintenance issue was that a seat back wouldn't lock, and mechanics were working on it. She just KNEW that they were making an excuse - Continental was clearly about to cancel the flight.
More people boarded - a steady trickle of people looking for overhead space and a seat.
Now, she just KNEW that Continental was holding out flight to accommodate a few other passengers, that they could cancel another Continental flight later today.
They then closed up the boarding door, but we didn't push back right away. We were now about twelve minutes after scheduled departure.
My row-mates now began to postulate on just how late we were going to be; my SMF bound neighbor was convinced he was now going to get stuck in SFO, as he'd clearly miss his connection.
The flight crew then told us that the jetway wasn't retracting, that the ground techs were working on it, and that they expected to arrive on time in spite of the late departure.
"Now, why would they say THAT?" More speculation.
I kept reading my book. I reflected on my own judgment of their conversation, and decided I needed to take a chill pill.
We were flying on a brand-spanking new airplane, with in seat DirecTV at every seat. We had six flight attendants, were served a free hot meal, had three drink services, and we arrived on the dot. Not a single moment later than the schedule had suggested.
As we taxied into the gate (without delay), my seat mate was suggesting that he had nearly taken a cab across Houston to Hobby Airport, to catch a Southwest flight home.
My ability to hold my tongue evaporated.
"Yes, I've heard that they have better weather"
"Huh? At Hobby?"
"No. Southwest. They have far better weather than does Continental"
I mean, really? We just flew across the continent in a brand new, clean, safe, comfortable airplane, you just got to watch two feature films AND Fox News at your seat, you were fed for free, we arrived right on time AND for three hundred dollars?
A trip from Houston to San Francisco just fifty years ago would have taken a day. Seventy years ago would have taken two and a half. A hundred and fifty years ago, it would have taken MONTHS.
I have a lot more to say about this issue, but I'm gonna stop bitching, and go with David to have some Goat Hill pizza
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Midnight Nightmare Moonlight multi-plex
Involuntarily and unwittingly joining a Mafia-like organization involving rental apartments
Lots of dreams in which my mother is a significant actor
Speaking one last time in church, with hundreds of devoted patrons, and David Boreanaz as the minister
Mayhem and mystery
Please tell me it's just sinus related, due to the fact that all of the trees are pollinating...
Lots of dreams in which my mother is a significant actor
Speaking one last time in church, with hundreds of devoted patrons, and David Boreanaz as the minister
Mayhem and mystery
Please tell me it's just sinus related, due to the fact that all of the trees are pollinating...
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Environmentally unsound, but still worth doing --
This weekend's "honey do" list (for me, from me and by me) -
Yet.
So, when I moved to Houston in 1981, we had just finished a period where arrested individuals of color could be found floating face down in the Bayou with their hands behind their backs. That time, thankfully, has passed, but I continue to object people throwing things into the Bayou.
However - I am oft motivated to ignore my own feelings about the Bayou and express my frustration and displeasure in exactly the same way that the po-leece used to do.
Point in fact - WordPress.
Point in fact - the intense pusillanimous political pissing contest
Point in fact - people who drive trucks that are too large for parking spaces, and block traffic with them
Point in fact - the notion that government is incompetent, therefore tax collections should be denied government, but government should continue to supply road maintenance, infrastructure improvement, fire and police protection, be fully staffed at all times, have no waiting lines or fees, and be Doris Day perky while doing so.
Point in fact - people who want airfare to be $200, regardless of where they are flying, but then expect champagne, no line, a hot meal, unlimited baggage allowance and no weather, no delays, and to be first up and first off the airplane.
Point in fact - people who refuse to leave their cell phones idle during a movie or theater performance.
That is a whole class of people about whom I wouldn't mind reading that they were found floating face down in the bayou with their cell phone clenched in their hands - behind their backs.
- Laundry
- Clean the apartment
- Wax the car
- Work on my exterior signage for tax season
- Help a friend with some demand letters tomorrow at lunch
- Try to get my WordPress install finished so I can start putting up content
- Photograph/describe/upload listings for eBay
- Write at least four chapters of book #1
- Outline (new) book #6
- Read the rest of Dan Brown's new book
- Map out the 4G integrated vehicle system I want designed/installed
Yet.
So, when I moved to Houston in 1981, we had just finished a period where arrested individuals of color could be found floating face down in the Bayou with their hands behind their backs. That time, thankfully, has passed, but I continue to object people throwing things into the Bayou.
However - I am oft motivated to ignore my own feelings about the Bayou and express my frustration and displeasure in exactly the same way that the po-leece used to do.
Point in fact - WordPress.
Point in fact - the intense pusillanimous political pissing contest
Point in fact - people who drive trucks that are too large for parking spaces, and block traffic with them
Point in fact - the notion that government is incompetent, therefore tax collections should be denied government, but government should continue to supply road maintenance, infrastructure improvement, fire and police protection, be fully staffed at all times, have no waiting lines or fees, and be Doris Day perky while doing so.
Point in fact - people who want airfare to be $200, regardless of where they are flying, but then expect champagne, no line, a hot meal, unlimited baggage allowance and no weather, no delays, and to be first up and first off the airplane.
Point in fact - people who refuse to leave their cell phones idle during a movie or theater performance.
That is a whole class of people about whom I wouldn't mind reading that they were found floating face down in the bayou with their cell phone clenched in their hands - behind their backs.
Friday, January 15, 2010
Not paying it forward, just throwing it forward
I offer this with the caveat that I have assembled these facts in only a couple of hours of research and a history from my own memory of having watched all of this, and followed the bouncing bank ball. The story is essential accurate, but isn't represented to be a thorough and complete examination.
Early today, Guy sent me a portion of an article from the New York Times that points out JP Morgan Chase may have made over $12,000,000,000 in profits last year, but that they are losing a bunch of money on their consumer credit operation.
Here's the thing - Chase, back when it was Chemical and Chase (does anyone remember that Chemical acquired Chase Manhattan to cover over their own dreadful reputation in 1996?) had very little in the way of credit card operations.
Bank One "merged" with Chase in 2004. It was running for cover because of .. losses in its card services unit. At the time, Bank One was the largest credit card issuer in the country (I think - if not THE largest, one of the largest). It became that by swallowing up First USA - which WAS an "innovator" and the fourth largest issuer of Visa and MasterCard.
Why did it buy First USA? First USA was up to its earrings in desperation.
First USA was founded as MNet in 1985 - a division of MCorp, which was originally the Mercantile Trust Company of Dallas, Texas. MCorp (and its banking subsidiary MBank) aggressively expanded during the initial go-go years of the 1980s, and established a huge credit card operation, issuing over 1.3 Million credit cards.
MCorp, its growth dampened by over expansion, sold its best assets (is this not the most oft repeated story in American business? Expand wildly, mostly on borrowed money, sell off the best elements in desperation, then what's left folds up like a cheap tent) and the first to go was its highly profitable credit card business. Sold to Lomas and Nettleton (another storied name, lost to history) it became Lomas Bank, and started buying up everything that was issuing credit cards. Bright Banc (I haven't thought of them in twenty years) and Dollar Dry Dock were swallowed up and then .. wait for it .. Lomas ran into financial trouble and .. sold off Lomas Bank to a spin off, financed by Merrill - and run by the SAME EXECUTIVES THAT MADE THIS.. oh, I can't go on.
Now, they're called First USA. And they're the 13th largest issuer of credit cards. But, they have no depository bank upon which to build their massive issue of unsecured debt. AND, they represent the beginning of the sub-prime curve, Bright Banc having been one of the first issuers of First Premier type, nearly 100% APR credit cards to people with atrocious credit.
They owed $2.1 Billion in 1992 (when that really meant something - about $3.2 Billion in 2009 dollars). So, they raised money - in the highly fashionable way of selling a very small portion of the outstanding stock for a whale of a lot of money, making their own holdings immensely valuable. Then, they can release the un-offered stock into the market at the "market" price, reaping huge profits.
First USA focused on people who carried large balances, rather than paying them down each month. They introduced variable rate credit cards. In 1994, they were huge. The financial media spoke of them in divine terms.
Maybe you remember that Bank One was a merged bank of Bank One (Ohio) and FirstChicagoNBD (which was itself a combination of four of the largest banks in Detroit and Chicago).
I will let this quote demonstrate that First USA was a black hole by 1997:
Hey, so that court decision was in 2004. Guess what else happened then?
Bank One sold itself to Chase.
Chase, known for conservative management, acquired the leading combined "go go" big bank in the country, including their enormous sucking sound known as "Bank One Card Services".
Then, just to make SURE that they were well positioned, they acquired Washington Mutual, the owners of Long Beach Mortgage (one of the largest sub-prime mortgage lenders) and Providian Financial (one of the largest sub-prime credit card issuers).
Is it any surprise at all that Chase is "hemorrhaging money"?
Let's review:
Who's going to acquire Chase? Note that I don't even discuss Chase's recent acquisition of Bearn Stearns.
How many times has the taxpayer bailed out this behemoth of over-expansion, risky lending, directors and "investment banks" profiting for themselves at the expense of "regular" stockholders?
Why is having megalithic financial institutions like this sensible?
P.S. - Just as with the seizure/closure of MBank, the seizure/closure of Washington Mutual has shareholders suing to regain some value for their lost stock positions, claiming that the FDIC acted to benefit Chase, rather than shareholders. Give it six years.
Current value currency conversions are approximate and are done for free on the Dollar Times website.
Early today, Guy sent me a portion of an article from the New York Times that points out JP Morgan Chase may have made over $12,000,000,000 in profits last year, but that they are losing a bunch of money on their consumer credit operation.
Chase’s consumer businesses, however, are still hemorrhaging money. Chase Card Services, its big credit card unit, lost $2.23 billion in 2009 and is unlikely to turn a profit this year. Chase retail services eked out a $93 million profit for 2009, though it posted $399 million annual loss in the fourth quarter. To try to stop the bleeding, the bank agreed to temporarily modify about 600,000 mortgages. Only about 89,000 of those adjustments have been made permanent.
Here's the thing - Chase, back when it was Chemical and Chase (does anyone remember that Chemical acquired Chase Manhattan to cover over their own dreadful reputation in 1996?) had very little in the way of credit card operations.
Bank One "merged" with Chase in 2004. It was running for cover because of .. losses in its card services unit. At the time, Bank One was the largest credit card issuer in the country (I think - if not THE largest, one of the largest). It became that by swallowing up First USA - which WAS an "innovator" and the fourth largest issuer of Visa and MasterCard.
Why did it buy First USA? First USA was up to its earrings in desperation.
First USA was founded as MNet in 1985 - a division of MCorp, which was originally the Mercantile Trust Company of Dallas, Texas. MCorp (and its banking subsidiary MBank) aggressively expanded during the initial go-go years of the 1980s, and established a huge credit card operation, issuing over 1.3 Million credit cards.
This will be amusing and important in a moment, but the banking operations of MBank were sold to Bank One for.. a bag of oranges in the late 1980s
MCorp, its growth dampened by over expansion, sold its best assets (is this not the most oft repeated story in American business? Expand wildly, mostly on borrowed money, sell off the best elements in desperation, then what's left folds up like a cheap tent) and the first to go was its highly profitable credit card business. Sold to Lomas and Nettleton (another storied name, lost to history) it became Lomas Bank, and started buying up everything that was issuing credit cards. Bright Banc (I haven't thought of them in twenty years) and Dollar Dry Dock were swallowed up and then .. wait for it .. Lomas ran into financial trouble and .. sold off Lomas Bank to a spin off, financed by Merrill - and run by the SAME EXECUTIVES THAT MADE THIS.. oh, I can't go on.
Now, they're called First USA. And they're the 13th largest issuer of credit cards. But, they have no depository bank upon which to build their massive issue of unsecured debt. AND, they represent the beginning of the sub-prime curve, Bright Banc having been one of the first issuers of First Premier type, nearly 100% APR credit cards to people with atrocious credit.
They owed $2.1 Billion in 1992 (when that really meant something - about $3.2 Billion in 2009 dollars). So, they raised money - in the highly fashionable way of selling a very small portion of the outstanding stock for a whale of a lot of money, making their own holdings immensely valuable. Then, they can release the un-offered stock into the market at the "market" price, reaping huge profits.
First USA focused on people who carried large balances, rather than paying them down each month. They introduced variable rate credit cards. In 1994, they were huge. The financial media spoke of them in divine terms.
Maybe you remember that Bank One was a merged bank of Bank One (Ohio) and FirstChicagoNBD (which was itself a combination of four of the largest banks in Detroit and Chicago).
I will let this quote demonstrate that First USA was a black hole by 1997:
In its decision, the Court held that Old Banc One Shareholders who purchased their stock after the August 1998 Prospectus was disseminated would have been more likely to vote against the merger had information regarding problems plaintiffs allege at Banc One's credit card division, First USA Bank, N.A., been disclosed before the merger.
Hey, so that court decision was in 2004. Guess what else happened then?
Bank One sold itself to Chase.
Chase, known for conservative management, acquired the leading combined "go go" big bank in the country, including their enormous sucking sound known as "Bank One Card Services".
Then, just to make SURE that they were well positioned, they acquired Washington Mutual, the owners of Long Beach Mortgage (one of the largest sub-prime mortgage lenders) and Providian Financial (one of the largest sub-prime credit card issuers).
Is it any surprise at all that Chase is "hemorrhaging money"?
Let's review:
- MBank, which exploded in expansion, failed.
- MNet became Lomas Bank, which exploded in expansion, and failed.
- MBank was given to Bank One Ohio for less than the physical plant asset value.
- Texas Commerce Bank, exposed to huge loan losses in the oil market crash of the mid 1980's, sold itself to Chemical Bank.
- FirstCity, which failed TWICE under the weight of enormous loans made in the energy industry, had the largest non-manufacturer auto loan business in the country.
- Chemical Bank (still called Texas Commerce in Texas) acquired all of the assets of FirstCity.
- Washington Mutual acquires Home Savings and expands to be the largest Savings and Loan in the country, competing directly against the huge "money center" banks (Citi, Chase, Wells, NCNB/Nations)
- Chemical Bank, which had made huge loans to LDCs (Latin America, at high, variable rates of interest), causing political unrest (one must ask ones' self whether illegal immigration from Mexico would have occurred in the absence of Citibank and Chemical's massive loans to Mexico in the 1970s and 1980s that Mexico couldn't repay) acquired Chase Manhattan to gain Chase's pristine reputation.
- Bank One, owner of First USA and MBank LIES to persuade FirstChicagoNBD shareholders to merge with it, providing almost seven years of cover for the credit card mess
- Bank One, including FirstChicago "merges" with Chase nee Chemical.
- Chase acquires Washington Mutual.
Who's going to acquire Chase? Note that I don't even discuss Chase's recent acquisition of Bearn Stearns.
How many times has the taxpayer bailed out this behemoth of over-expansion, risky lending, directors and "investment banks" profiting for themselves at the expense of "regular" stockholders?
Why is having megalithic financial institutions like this sensible?
P.S. - Just as with the seizure/closure of MBank, the seizure/closure of Washington Mutual has shareholders suing to regain some value for their lost stock positions, claiming that the FDIC acted to benefit Chase, rather than shareholders. Give it six years.
Current value currency conversions are approximate and are done for free on the Dollar Times website.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)